Synopsis:
The dark side manifestation that haunted Luke in the first issue now makes itself known as a clone of the Emperor. He tells Luke that he's died many times before Darth Vader threw him down the shaft, and that he expects to die many more times. With a whole suite of clones waiting as vessels for his spirit, he can theoretically live forever. And he wants to teach Luke his secret.

Leia, from the safety of a New Republic base, senses that Luke is being lost to the Dark Side. She enlists the aid of her husband and Chewbacca to go save her brother--if they can.

At the same time, the Force Storm that swept Luke and R2D2 away to the Emperor's keep in the last issue has opened up a transport conduit. Mon Mothma and the rest of the Republic's leadership have been monitoring the great "hole" in space and are alarmed to note that a great war fleet, being led by vast ships called "World Devastators", are now coming through.

The relative peace of the last six years seems to be over as the Falcon speeds off to help Luke.

Notes:
As with the rest of the issues in this series, the book also contains a 4-page text article explaining the gap between the end of Episode VI and the beginning of this series.